To the Dartmouth Administration,

 

   I am a 13-year-old swimmer who competes for North Country Aquatic Club. We practice and compete out of the Karl Michael pool at Dartmouth College. Throughout my time swimming for North Country Aquatic Club, I have had the opportunity to get to know a few of the Dartmouth swimmers. I attended the Ivy Swim Camp this past summer which is run by Coach Jim Wilson, coach JoAnn Brislin, and several of the Dartmouth team swimmers. I have noticed that the Dartmouth swimmers all have one thing in common: they are extremely dedicated to what they do. They are some of the most kind, intelligent, and determined people I have come to know in my life. I would never want to have their chance for success in what they love taken away from them.

 

   As a swimmer I have found that this sport is not only one that requires hard physical work and daily (sometimes twice daily!) dedication, it is also an extremely mental sport. It requires a lot of thought and intelligence. In swimming you learn to set goals, work very hard, and then achieve them. When swimming there are so many things to be thinking about: technique, breathing patterns, planning out how many strokes to take, strategizing, and visualizing your races. Because of that, swimmers are some of the most intelligent, determined, and high-achieving people. Those are qualities that make an outstanding student and human being, so the move to eliminate the swimming and diving teams at Dartmouth not only jeopardizes those valuable people, but in the future Dartmouth will be missing out on recruiting some of the best students around.

 

   The swimmers at Dartmouth are such hard workers, and they are so dedicated to the sport of swimming. If the swimming and diving teams are cut, Dartmouth will be crushing so many people's dreams and goals. Please don't do that to them. It hurts not only them, but those of us coming up in the sport as well.

 

   The Dartmouth swimmers are role models for our team. They inspire us to work hard and set goals so we can someday achieve their level of excellence. I would like to encourage the administration to very seriously reconsider their decision.

Sincerely,

 

Molly Mamourian

Age 13

North Country Aquatic Club